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Sagara Sanosuke
Sagara Sanosuke is a main character in the Rurouni Kenshin series. A former member of the disgraced Sekihō Army in his youth, Sanosuke spent the years after the Meiji Revolution taking out his frustrations as a "fight merchant" under the name Zanza, all the while hating the Ishin-Shishi that framed and murdered his comrades as well as the flawed Meiji government that they created. After meeting Kenshin, however, Sano is able to put his feelings aside and end his fighting merchant days - instead taking up with Kenshin's group at Kamiya dojo. With his great strength and upright character, Sanosuke is a welcome and invaluable ally in Kenshin's adventures, serving as a trusted friend in times of peace and a dependable "right arm" in battle. Appearance Tall and lean, Sanosuke's slight build belies his immense strength and his superhuman toughness, but his wild shock of spiky brown hair and intense brown eyes are clear indications of his demeanor. Sano is always seen wearing a white happi jacket with black trim and the kanji character aku (惡) - meaning evil - emblazoned conspicuously on the back in black as well as white dōgi trousers. While he always wears his jacket open - sometimes leaving his arms out of the sleeves so that it simply drapes over his shoulders, Sanosuke does not wear a shirt beneath it, instead leaving his chest bare while white sarashi bandage tape is wrapped around his abdomen; this same white sarashi is wrapped around his ankles and feet. Additionally, Sano wears a long headband and matching sarashi around his left forearm, both of which are often depicted as red, but sometimes seen in purple. As he fights with his fists and relies on his ability to absorb damage rather than any defensive skill, Sano is also frequently seen in bandages, most notably around his right hand and forearm after mastering Futae no Kiwami. After he leaves Japan and goes to the mainland at the end of the series, Sano lets his already wild image grow wilder by allowing his hair to lengthen to a shoulder-length mane while growing a chinstrap beard. Personality Straightforward and brash, Sanosuke presents a rather complex set of morals despite his relatively simple demeanor. Not particularly occupied with whether a person aligns with "good" or "bad", he instead places importance on whether or not people are honest with themselves or others. Due largely to his experience with the Sekihō Army and the Ishin Shishi of the Meiji Government, Sanosuke is acutely aware that the definitions of good and bad are arbitrary and objective - often changed or switched depending on who is in a position of authority - and, therefore, does not judge those who choose either path or balk at doing "illegal" or "immoral" things himself. However, he marks lies and hypocrisy as the height of villainy and, as a result, is unusually forthcoming with his own intentions and also bald-facedly critical of others' half-truths. Though usually displaying a demeanor somewhere between sardonically jovial and bored, Sanosuke is described by those close to him as having a temperament like fire - a fire that smolders with the losses of his past in times of quietude but comes fully aflame when his fists itch for combat. In keeping with his brash and forthright character and in spite of his quick tongue, Sanosuke is more prone to speak with his fists than with his words. For him, there is no greater enjoyment than that found in brawling with strong opponents and no greater disappointment than raising his fists against a weaker man. When Sano's temper is ignited by the victimization of a friend, however, he becomes unable to calm himself until his fists have struck a target, regardless of his enemy's strength. After coming into contact with Himura Kenshin and the group at the Kamiya dojo, however, Sanosuke has begun to see a deeper path through life. For the most part forgoing his violent nature, Sano soon comes to admire Kenshin and joins the ex-hitokiri's mission to aid the downtrodden and victimized. Along the way, Sanosuke encounters more and more people whose strength he begins to evaluate differently; to those whose inner strength resembles Kenshin's, Sanosuke offers his strong right arm, and to those whose ideals are misguided, Sanosuke seeks to give the same inspiration that the rurouni has given him. Unfortunately, Sanosuke's brash straightforwardness carries a strong strain of thickheadedness with it. Though rather observant in crucial situations and particularly astute with doling out criticisms, he can often be rather simple-minded, requiring those with sharper minds to explain the finer points of any complex occurrence. Sanosuke is also known to his close friends as a bit of a mooch, skulking around the Kamiya dojo for free meals, borrowing cash from friends without any real promise of reimbursement and racking up a rather large unpaid tab at the Akabeko. Relationships * Sagara Sōzō - Sanosuke's childhood mentor and hero, the Captain of the Sekihō Army treated the boy as a younger brother, entrusting him with all his dreams and ideals for the future. Sanosuke came to see Sōzō as a shining beacon of hope and honesty and so, when the newly formed Meiji Government branded the Captain as a traitor and executed him to hide its own lies, young Sano's innocence died with him. In times of emotional turmoil, Sanosuke reflects on Sōzō's selflessness and finds the inner strength he needs to see the path in front of him. On at least one occasion, these reflections have granted Sanosuke a vision of Captain Sagara as if the man's ghost were standing before him. * Himura Kenshin - Sanosuke respects Kenshin's strength and has even greater respect for Kenshin's belief in protecting the weak, since he regards it similar to what his mentor believed in. However when Saito told Sanosuke that Kenshin left Tokyo due to him being a liability, Sanosuke took great offence. He proceeded to follow Kenshin to Kyoto and remind him with a punch that he can more than hold his own, and that he would always be there to back Kenshin up whenever he needs a helping hand. During the fight with Enishi's men, Kenshin refuses to help Sanosuke due to his respect for his strength and pride, saying that if he dies, "He was only that much of man". * Myōjin Yahiko - They have a very brotherly relationship. Sanosuke likes to pick on Yahiko, and the too often get into fights with each other (resulting in a beaten Yahiko). They are also often partners in mischief, often to the dismay of Kaoru. But when things are serious, Sanosuke will give Yahiko his advice and guidance, especially regarding becoming a man. Near the end of the series Sanosuke grants his apartment to Yahiko, while Yahiko would later begin wearing Sanosuke's signature aku symbol on the back of his collar. * Takani Megumi - Sanosuke initially despised Megumi for her role in his friends death from Opium. In the manga he begins to warm up to her only after rescuing her from Kanryu. But in the anime he warms up to her after hearing the story of her family before she is captured. Its hinted in the anime that Sanosuke may have a crush on her, but in the manga Sanosuke tends to be annoyed by her flirtation at times. * Saitō Hajime - Sanosuke on the surface, hates Saito and resentful of the fact Saito had complete control over their fight in Tokyo. Saito regards Sanosuke as weak and foolish and won't hesitate to remind him of that. It was the fight with Saito that made Sanosuke seek a way to get stronger as he made his way to Kyoto. However despite Saito berating him on his lack defense, Sanosuke refused to get stronger the way Saito suggested, claiming it wasn't his style, and possibly out of spite. Despite their animosity towards each other however, Sanosuke quietly respects Saitos strength. Abilities Unfortunately, being rather thick-headed, Sano doesn't have many skills outside of the physical realm. However, he makes up for that fact with a body remarkably suited for combat. Despite his lithe frame, he is a man possessed of almost superhuman strength capable of kicking down massive doors, smashing boulders with his fists and incapacitating fearsome opponents with but a flick of his finger. Sanosuke's strength is also what allows him to brandish his tremendous trademark sword - the Zanbatō - as if completely ignoring its significant weight. Though his relative inexperience with swordplay coupled with the blade's unwieldy size make it necessary for him to swing it either laterally or vertically, Sanosuke manages to be quite threatening with it, carving trenches into the earth where his sword strikes the ground and even using it to swat aside cannon fire. However, even with his monstrous strength, Sanosuke's true advantage in combat comes from his herculean toughness; conventional attacks, armed or unarmed, have little to no effect on him and in those rare instances when he is injured by a powerful opponent, he is usually able to shrug off the pain momentarily and bounce back from most injuries with unexpected quickness. As a consequence of this, however, Sanosuke has almost no concept of self-defense outside of simply absorbing blows; he is unaccustomed to blocking or parrying in a fight and often jumps back into battle before his previous wounds have healed completely. Futae no Kiwami After his defeat at the hands of Saitō Hajime makes it clear to Sanosuke that his level of strength will be of little help against the enemies to come, Sano's attempts to heighten his usefulness lead him into the presence of Yūkyūzan Anji, who teaches him the basics of his secret technique: the Futae no Kiwami or "Mastery of the Two Layers". With this technique, Sanosuke is able to supplement his prodigious strength with the ability to completely pulverize matter. He does this by implementing a double-strike, first using the proximal interphalangeal joints of his right hand and then folding his hand to strike with the proximal phalanx joints. The first strike counters and negates the target object's natural resistance and the latter strike, delivered within 1/75th of a second, strikes the target object before it can recover from the initial blow, thereby causing it to shatter completely. "Mastery of the three layers" His original technique which along with the first two strikes he pushes open his fist creating a third strike this was used to defeat the creator (Anji) of the two layers. History Sanosuke is a former member of the Sekihotai. When the group is destroyed by the Meiji Government, he becomes a fighter-for-hire to calm his anger by fighting. During his introduction in the series, he encounters the wanderer Himura Kenshin, who easily defeats him and is able to convince him to stop his mercenary work and instead start protecting people. After that encounter, Sanosuke becomes Kenshin's best friend as well as his partner in most of their fights. He has also appears in the featured film of the series and in other media relating to the Rurouni Kenshin franchise, including a plethora of electronic games and original video animations (OVAs). Numerous anime and manga publications have commented on Sanosuke's character. Mania Entertainment praised his character development, noting that he becomes more trustworthy and reliable as the series progresses. SciFi.com referred to him as a "video-game icon", and noted how he is portrayed as a "tragic figure". Sanosuke has been popular with the Rurouni Kenshin reader base, placing second in every popularity poll. Merchandise based on Sanosuke has also been released, including key chains, and plush dolls. Creation and reception Sanosuke was one of the last major figures of the series to be created. Watsuki created him to be Kenshin's best friend, who is willing to punch him when he is sad to make him "wake up" from his sadness. Although Sanosuke is a main character in the series, Watsuki felt that he could not write everything he wanted about him, and thought that making him the title character of a series would prove interesting. Watsuki describes Sanosuke's visual motif by referring to his design model, Lamp, the main character of Takeshi Obata's Mashin Bōken Tan Lamp-Lamp. Watsuki, working as an assistant on Obata's manga, formed the character by doodling in sketchbooks, adding and subtracting elements from the proposed character "with blessings from the original artist, of course". Watsuki saw Shiba Ryōtarō's version of Harada as the one he wanted to use as a model for his design and has said that the character's big spiky hair is the strangest element he has ever drawn. In July 2006, the Japanese publishers of Rurouni Kenshin released the kanzenban edition. In the fifth kanzenban, Watsuki redesigned the character of Sanosuke in a draft version. To emphasize his hate of the Meiji Government, Watsuki drew the Japanese kanji for "bad" (惡 ,aku) as a tattoo on Sanosuke's back; in the original series, the mark is shown on the back of his the character's jacket. Unlike in the manga where Sanosuke wields an oversized fictional version of a zanbatō, Watsuki gave him a more historically accurate zanbato. He also gave him an armor-like cloth to make him look more as a warrior. In the anime adaptation of Rurouni Kenshin, Watsuki's designs were combined with the voice talents of Yūji Ueda, a seiyū. In producing the English dub version of the series, Media Blasters chose Lex Lang as Sanosuke's voice actor. When writing Sanosuke's dialogue, Clark Cheng, the writer of the English dub script, noted that the character was smarter than he would have liked in the first few episodes, and tried slowly to change the character's dialogue to make him seem dumber so he would be more similar to the Japanese version of the series. Category:Characters Category:Kenshin-Gumi Category:Swordsman Category:Male Category:Martial Artist